Sick Bay...

Bleugh! Have had a week of yukkie sickness in the house. It started the night I came home from Holland with Lucy and by Friday, three of us were in the bed together with fans going, thermometers stuck here and there and calpol dispensed every 4 hours. It's that time of year - pre-Christmas virals. As my mum says we need a good dose of snow to clear away the bugs. Sorry have been a bad blogger but hopefully that's us done on the bug front for Chrimbo!




Managed to scrape myself out of bed to do this week's Scrapwest and I'm glad I did as I have wanted to make this one for ages. When I was a child my favourite thing was when granny came to stay with us for the weekend. She was a fantastic pianist in her youth - in fact I have some of her wonderful grade VI Associated Board Certificates from 1929 framed in the hall. I used to bring her into the sitting room and ask her to play the piano for me. One piece she played so well which always sticks in my mind was Hungarian Rhapsody and I still associate her with it when I hear it on a CD or something. Anyways... she had this amazing collection of 7 music books - probably 100 years old at this stage- and she could play most pieces from them in her prime. Like most people when they get married and have families, the piano skills fade when you don't practice. As she got older, the hands got shakier and the notes got rustier but she still had it into her 70's bless her. Her favourite thing (like me!) was a good old sing somg around the piano. I remember visiting her one Sunday and she brought these books down for me and told me to bring them home with me as she knew I would look after them for her. Apparently an unscrupulous antique dealer had managed to get into her house previously and offered her £10 for the lot but she had the sense to send him packing. SO now I have them and they are my family treasure and hopefully because I have made this LO that my grandchildren will now understand the value of these beautiful books...

Thanks Audrey for the inspirationXX

Scrapaganza...the Sequel!


Blurb to follow :-)

One more sleep!

Heading off to Holland in the morning for more SCRAPAGANZA fun and frolics. There's quite a crew going this time so there will be no doubt about the craic! Haven't packed yet but have made a few piles - piles of stash, piles of ironing, piles of disposable clothes so i can bring home more looty(!) and piles of dinners so the kids don't become emaciated while I'm gone. Never fear - we live less than 1km from a McDonalds so they should be fine!

It's been such a busy week - Annamarie surprised me with the November Fancy Pants kit from www.thescrapbookstore.ie and asked me to be their guest designer (thanks Annamarie!!!). Not one to say no to free stash I just dived right in and had so much fun with it. There's tons of goodies in it this month and I'm really loving those felt pieces. Still have lots to play with so watch this space when I use up the leftovers. The diecuts are especially cute - fab little angel and butterfly wings which so suited my two fairies!

Happy 7th Birthday Eva...



My baby turned 7 today - where are the years going to??? We had a crafty princess party which was a great success thanks to my three lovely princess assistants- My mother, Annamarie and Linda. Annamarie baked (YES BAKED!) her own gingerbread men - moveover Rachel Allen LOL!- and the kids decorated them with smarties and icing. In the meantime when the baking was taking place we made cards for the mums and jewellery for the princesses. They have all left and I am fit for bed!

Cabra Crop today...

Today we had the monthly scrapbooking class and crop at Cabra. Thanks to everyone who came along and for their patience for the less than ideal set up. We are growing monthly as a group and I think we need to find ourselves a new home. Crafters need LOTS of space! Anyways we created a very interactive layout with lots of flipping and movement. Here it is....



Last night's Scrapwest was changing colours ie ones you don't normally use (by Kate) so I decided to do a coffee and cream layout of my grandparents on their wedding day. Nana eloped to marry my Grampa so I've always been facinated to understand more about their story. I know some details but wouldn't it be great if my nana was a scrapbooker and had written it all down!...that's why I do this. Don't know if my story will be interesting in 100 years but I do it because I hope that someone down the line will want to know more about my family and how we lived....

Isn't she just beautiful...


And here she is the little darling Isabel. My God you just forget how tiny they really are - she looks extra tiny especially when you see her little fingers wrapped around one of mine. She does nothing but sleep at the moment but I expect all that will change next week...

Welcome to the world baby Isabel



My new niece baby Isabel made a dramatic and fast appearance into the world last night one week ahead of schedule. She weighs 6lbs 12oz and looks very like her big brother Sam. Can't wait to get my mits on her to give her a cuddle. She had to be suctioned during the night as she went blue but seems to be doing well today apart from being a lazy feeder. Her mum is hoping to take her home this evening. Hope she's a sleeper as her big brother who's 2.5 years old only started sleeping the night for the first time last week!

RDS Knit and Stitch Show...

Had a great day today at the K&S. It was thronged with fanatical and often hysterical crafters oohing and aaahing over paper, stamps, beads and wool. The que for the banklink was constantly full and there were serious bucks handed over in the RDS hall today. I myself was quite naughty in the various bead stands - but hey what the heck. Christmas pressies sorted! I bumbed into a few crafters and even an old college mate I hadn't seen for over 16 years which was lovely (***waves to Gay!***). At the end of the day I signed up for a drawing lesson with Richard Box on the theme of 'Taking the Terrified out of drawing' or something like that and it was really good fun.

Just got some great news -the latest edition to our family (a little girl to my sister) has just arrived tonight one week ahead of schedule. 6lbs 12oz and mum and baby are doing well. Welcome baby McSweeney - we thought you were going to be a boy!
Photos to be added soon!

Spent a fab day with Eavan and the kiddies at Imaginosity and it was so much fun. Basically it's like mini adult world for kids - lots of interactive stuff and it's all geared towards stretching the kid's imagination. There's 3 floors of fun stuff to do and you book 2 hour slots at a time (pre-booking advised!). Inside there's
* A supermarket
* A hospital
* A diner
* A stage complete with costumes, lighting and sound effects
* A green screen where the kids pretend to be rockstars with electric guitars and
they appear on a music video on the screen
* A news desk - again they appear on TV screens
* Art studio
* Climbing frames
* roof top playground - opening soon
* Cafe for the exhausted parents (with top class facilities)

Really can't recommend it highly enough - and at 7.50 for a great day out each it was cheap at the price!











Imaginosity...